IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i8p1676-d162342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond Reading and Understanding: Health Literacy as the Capacity to Act

Author

Listed:
  • Jany Rademakers

    (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, 3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands
    Department of Family Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands)

  • Monique Heijmans

    (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, 3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Many health literacy interventions have a limited focus on functional/cognitive skills. In psychosocial models, the capacity to act however is seen as a major driver of behavioural change. This aspect is often lacking in health literacy concepts. In this study, we examine the impact of both aspects of health literacy (functional/cognitive and capacity to act) on specific healthcare outcomes (healthcare use, experiences with patient-centered care, shared-decision making, and self-management). In a sample of a national panel of people with a chronic disease (NPCD), questions about health literacy, patient activation, and outcomes were asked. The results indicated that 39.9% had limited HL levels and 36.9% had a low activation score. Combined, 22.7% of the sample scored low on both aspects, whereas 45.8% had adequate levels on both. Patients who score low on both use more healthcare and have less positive experiences with patient-centered care, shared decision making, and self-management. Patients who have adequate competency levels in both respects have the best outcomes. Both cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of health literacy are important, and they enhance each other. The capacity to act is especially important for the extent to which people feel able to self-manage.

Suggested Citation

  • Jany Rademakers & Monique Heijmans, 2018. "Beyond Reading and Understanding: Health Literacy as the Capacity to Act," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1676-:d:162342
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1676/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1676/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rademakers, Jany & Nijman, Jessica & Brabers, Anne E.M. & de Jong, Judith D. & Hendriks, Michelle, 2014. "The relative effect of health literacy and patient activation on provider choice in the Netherlands," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 200-206.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Don Nutbeam & Diane Levin-Zamir & Gill Rowlands, 2018. "Health Literacy in Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-3, November.
    2. Charlotte Demant Klinker & Anna Aaby & Lene Winther Ringgaard & Anneke Vang Hjort & Melanie Hawkins & Helle Terkildsen Maindal, 2020. "Health Literacy is Associated with Health Behaviors in Students from Vocational Education and Training Schools: A Danish Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    3. Anna Aaby & Karina Friis & Bo Christensen & Helle Terkildsen Maindal, 2020. "Health Literacy among People in Cardiac Rehabilitation: Associations with Participation and Health-Related Quality of Life in the Heart Skills Study in Denmark," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-12, January.
    4. Svea Gille & Lennert Griese & Doris Schaeffer, 2021. "Preferences and Experiences of People with Chronic Illness in Using Different Sources of Health Information: Results of a Mixed-Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Tan T. Nguyen & Nga T. Le & Minh H. Nguyen & Linh V. Pham & Binh N. Do & Hoang C. Nguyen & Huu C. Nguyen & Tung H. Ha & Hung K. Dao & Phuoc B. Nguyen & Manh V. Trinh & Thinh V. Do & Hung Q. Nguyen & T, 2020. "Health Literacy and Preventive Behaviors Modify the Association between Pre-Existing Health Conditions and Suspected COVID-19 Symptoms: A Multi-Institutional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-12, November.
    6. Katharina Achstetter & Julia Köppen & Matthias Haltaufderheide & Philipp Hengel & Miriam Blümel & Reinhard Busse, 2022. "Health Literacy of People with Substitutive Private Health Insurance in Germany and Their Assessment of the Health System Performance According to Health Literacy Levels: Results from a Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Anna T. Ehmann & Oliver Groene & Monika A. Rieger & Achim Siegel, 2020. "The Relationship between Health Literacy, Quality of Life, and Subjective Health: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural Region in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Determann, Domino & Lambooij, Mattijs S. & de Bekker-Grob, Esther W. & Hayen, Arthur P. & Varkevisser, Marco & Schut, Frederik T. & Wit, G. Ardine de, 2016. "What health plans do people prefer? The trade-off between premium and provider choice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 10-18.
    2. Francesca Gallè & Patrizia Calella & Christian Napoli & Fabrizio Liguori & Eduardo Alfonso Parisi & Giovanni Battista Orsi & Giorgio Liguori & Giuliana Valerio, 2020. "Are Health Literacy and Lifestyle of Undergraduates Related to the Educational Field? An Italian Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-9, September.
    3. Maarten Voorhaar & Erik WMA Bischoff & Guus Asijee & Jean Muris & Onno CP van Schayck & Annerika Slok & Anja Visser, 2020. "Validation of the Dutch version of the primary care resources and support for self-management tool: A tool to assess the quality of self-management support," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-11, March.
    4. Serena Barello & Lorenzo Palamenghi & Guendalina Graffigna, 2020. "The Mediating Role of the Patient Health Engagement Model on the Relationship Between Patient Perceived Autonomy Supportive Healthcare Climate and Health Literacy Skills," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-13, March.
    5. Palumbo, Rocco & Annarumma, Carmela & Adinolfi, Paola & Musella, Marco & Piscopo, Gabriella, 2016. "The Italian Health Literacy Project: Insights from the assessment of health literacy skills in Italy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(9), pages 1087-1094.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1676-:d:162342. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.